According to report by Deloitte, the global health care cost is likely to increase at an annual rate of 4.1% in 2017-2021 as against 1.3% in 2012-2016. The rapidly aging population, unhealthy lifestyles and rising labor costs worldwide is driving the ever-so-rising cost of health care every year.

In fact, the global health care spending is likely to reach USD $8.7 trillion by 2020 as against USD $7 trillion in 2015.

In 2016, the overall value of health insurance market reached around $1.1 trillion and it is likely to grow at CAGR of 8.6% to approximately $1.6 trillion by 2020.

Now given these stats, it’s no rocket science to understand that the global health insurance industry is growing exponentially.

But here’s the deal: given the ever-so-increasing number of internet-savvy customers’ worldwide, business, across industries and verticals, worldwide are experiencing an ocean of potentially disruptive changes.

The number of internet savvy customers worldwide is likely to grow 5 billion by the year 2020. Quite naturally, the demand for seamless accessibility and receptiveness from health insurance companies has increased manifolds.

So what does this actually mean for health insurers worldwide?

This means that health insurance companies will need to adopt futuristic technology trends and make sure of providing multiple digital touchpoints, utmost convenience, and personalized services.

In this post, we are going to pull the curtains and reveal 5 disruptive technology trends that are already disrupting the global health insurance industry… and are expected to go stronger in 2018 and beyond.

Let’s get started! Shall we?

Trend #1: Gamification is the New Talk in Town

Over the years, Gamification has become immensely popular with tech-savvy customers worldwide. No wonder, a large number of health insurance companies from across the globe are leveraging gamification techniques to help people set and meet health goals in order to hedge their overall risk.

Here’s an example for you:

Popular American insurer, Cigna recently collaborated with well-known mobile manufacturer, to leverage gamification techniques and help people improve their health, measure their progress and achieve positive results, by positive reinforcement and rewards.

Gamification on Samsung’s smart devices has helped Cigna boost the completion rates of its health assessments. The gamified version delivers completion rates of 90%; whereas the completion rate for a typical health assessment is around 30%.

We’re hopeful that more and more health insurance companies will leverage gamification techniques in 2018 and beyond to convince their customers to lead a healthy life, and create brand affinity, while hedging risks associated with health claims.

Trend #2: Wearable Tech is Still A Thing

The potential of wearable technology has been tremendous. Sadly, global health insurance industry has not yet been able to make the most of this technology. But we are hopeful that this underrated technology will set apace in 2018 and beyond.

In 2017, we saw some of many popular health insurers including United Healthcare and Cigna leveraging wearable technology to motivate customers to lead a healthy life and incentivize them for embracing healthy habits.

Here’s an example: America’s popular health insurer, Cigna that works in collaboration with TTK group to offer health insurance in India, recently introduced its Get ProActiv app. Integrated with a Rewards Program, this app allows customers to earn rewards for staying healthy and monitoring their activities using select wearable devices.

You’ll be surprised to know that the wearable tech market is expected to grow at 23% yearly to reach over $150bn by 2026.

Given that the wearable tech market is set to grow exponentially in the years to come, it could mean that, very soon, this technology will no longer be an exception, but will become a norm for the health insurance industry. And this seems to be encouraging a lot of global health insurance companies to leverage wearable technology in 2018 (and beyond).

Trend #3: Chatbot Technology will Make Waves in 2018

Last year could very well be termed as the year of Chatbot technology. In fact, reports from Credence Research revealed that chatbot technology is set for an exponential growth in the years to come. No wonder, a lot of health insurance companies embraced this technology wholeheartedly in 2017.

Here’s an example of one such insurance provider. California-based health insurance company, GetInsured launched a Chatbot to help its customers make the most of their health insurance plans with lesser wait time, seamless support and timely query resolution. The Chatbot works on Facebook Messenger.

We’re likely to see many more health insurance companies leverage Chatbot Technology in 2018 and beyond. In fact, technology experts have hinted that the demand for Chatbot technology will 5 times higher in 2018.

Trend #4: RPA will Redefine Insurance Administration Process

RPA was a winner trends for health insurance industry in 2017 and it’s expected to go even stronger in 2018 and beyond. Over the years, the RPA market has grown dramatically. It was worth 443 million USD in 2017 and is likely to reach 1224 million USD by 2021.

Given the upsurge in the demand of health insurance worldwide, more and more health insurance companies have now started turning to robotic process automation (RPA) for ease out the underwriting process, improve operational efficiency, and help customers save money by cutting down on care costs, and health plan management.

Trend #5: Blockchain Technology Will Become the New Norm

Just like RPA, Blockchain technology was a BIG TICKET DRAW in 2017 and it’s still likely to be the 2018’s ‘Next Big Thing’ for the global health insurance industry. Investments for blockchain technology have already started gaining momentum and are likely to grow substantially in the years to come.

In 2017, blockchain technology proved to be a boon for a large number of health insurers helping them increase efficiently of their operations, boost transparency of operations and ensure smooth transfer of data between policyholders, health insurers and healthcare professionals.

We are likely to see more and more health insurance companies embrace blockchain technology to ensure higher quality of clinical trial records, reduce regulatory and compliance costs, and optimize interactions between involved stakeholders.

In fact, companies like UnitedHealth Group have already jumped in the blockchain bandwagon and are deploying blockchain technology based solutions. Give its popularity; it’s easy to understand why blockchain technology is all set to become the most sought after technology trend for 2018 and beyond.

Over to You!

So there you have it – top 5 technology trends that are sure to disrupt the global health insurance market in 2018 and beyond. We are sure that the seemingly higher demand for health insurance and the ever-so-changing consumer behaviour will open new window of technological innovations to optimize interactions, improve operational efficiency and decrease the compliance costs.

While some of these trends will evolve and outlast the rest, some of them will go extinct like the mammoths. But one thing is for sure, bigger and better technological trends will continue to disrupt the global health insurance industry in the years to come.